Tannery industry contributing to Ganga pollution: Jairam

Sending across a stern message to the leather industry in Kanpur, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said that the pollution intensive industry would have to mend its ways to avoid discharging effluents into the Ganges river. With five more tannery units along the banks of the river asked to close down this year by the Pollution Control Board, as many as 69 units have been shut down in the city so far. The Indian government approved a Dollar1 billion loan from the World Bank in April to fund an eight-year project to clean the River Ganges, large stretches of which are heavily polluted by industrial and domestic waste.